Nutrition For The Elderly

By Owen Jones


It is always important to eat healthily, but the two phases when it is most vital are probably your formative years and your declining years. In the beginning, you have to build your body to put it on a good footing for the rest of your life and in your later years, parts do not work the same as they used to, so it is best to give them decent quality materials to work with.

So the tips below are valid for every stage of your life from being a young adult up, but they are especially vital for older people.

It is important to remain hydrated. Most individuals do not drink enough water, but older people tend to have less water in their bodies than younger ones and this has to be replaced. It is by and large recommended that individuals drink eight 250 cc glasses (a tumbler) of water (two litres) a day, but if you want to be more precise the ratio is 25 cc's per kilo, so a 250 cc glass for each 10 kilos or 22 pounds.

Protein is important to older people and as they are normally less lively than younger individuals, they do not require so much carbohydrate. Therefore, it is better to be selective with your foodstuffs, eat less bread, rice, potato and sugars, but eat a bit more lean meat, eggs, cheese and particularly fish.

If you are going to consume carbohydrates, be certain to eat the wholemeal, whole grain, unprocessed versions of rice, bread and pasta. This is to increase dietary fibre. A lot of older people suffer from constipation because they are less active and raising fibre and roughage will help counteract this. Green leaf vegetables, all vegetables and fruit are fantastic for increasing dietary fibre.

Cut down on fat and oil. You require some fat and oil, but it is not difficult to get enough to lubricate yourself and the consumption of the correct amount of fibre, roughage and water will avert constipation.

Iron is vital for healthy blood, so find out how much you need per day (RDA - recommended daily amount) and make certain that you acquire it either from red meat, cereals or supplements. The same goes for zinc which is not easily absorbed.

Calcium is extremely important particularly for women. Osteoporosis is very common. Osteoporosis is a calcium lack which results in brittle bones. Most individuals merely think of milk whilst they think of calcium, but milk is not good for adults. You can get it from meat, cheese and broccoli amongst other sources.

The B group of vitamins is also vital for your blood and immune system. Numerous older individuals have a lack of Vitamin B12. This is a complicated condition and requires a GP's advice, but it is widespread.

Next time you have to have a check up, look to see if they are checking your bodily level of vitamin B12 and if it is not in the list of tests, ask for it to be incorporated.




About the Author:



Grab The Post URL

URL:
HTML link code:
BB (forum) link code:

Leave a comment

  • Google+
  • 0Blogger
  • Facebook
  • Disqus

0 Response to "Nutrition For The Elderly"

Post a Comment

comments powered by Disqus